


Still Life in Watercolor

by zebaoth



Series: Rigelian Portraits [2]
Category: Fire Emblem Echoes: Mou Hitori no Eiyuu Ou | Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-21
Updated: 2017-10-21
Packaged: 2019-01-20 23:55:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12444789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zebaoth/pseuds/zebaoth
Summary: Berkut has a lot on his mind. Rinea does, too.But you didn't hear that from me.(this is NOT berkut/rinea. just trust me.)





	Still Life in Watercolor

Berkut was restless. He sat on the edge of his chair, having hardly touched his tea, tapping his heel on the floor, as if impatient, though there was nothing he had to be waiting for.

Rinea sipped her tea in comparative placidity, either not noticing Berkut’s discomfort or electing to allow him to speak whatever troubled his heart at his own pace.

Were the latter the case, she would not long be unrewarded for her patience. From the other side of the lilac centerpiece, Lord Berkut cleared his throat. “What do you think of Fernand?” he said.

Rinea swallowed an insignificant sip of tea. “I think he’s a loyal and competent officer,” she said.

“No, I mean,” said Berkut. He shifted in his chair. “What do you… think of him. I mean. Aren’t you a woman?”

Rinea's brows drew together. “Milord?”

Berkut cleared his throat, once more. “You know,” said Berkut, with a vague gesture, imploring her to understand his meaning without having to speak it. “What do you think, as a woman?”

Rinea’s puzzlement warmed into understanding, and she placed her teacup back onto its saucer with such delicacy as to scarcely make a sound. “Oh, Lord Berkut,” she said. “He could never be a threat to you.”

“That’s not what I asked,” said Berkut. His voice came out harsher than he had intended it to. He then, as to steady himself, placed his hand upon the table, firmly enough to make the lilacs quiver in their porcelain vase. He tried again. “What I mean is,” he said, “do you think he’s handsome? Hasn’t he rather a pleasant face?”

“Well,” said Rinea, lifting her teacup back off of its saucer, “I suppose if one was into that sort of thing. I mean… I only just turned 18. He’s so much older than us.”

“Not _us,” _said Berkut. “I’m a year older than you.”__

____

____

Rinea's eyes widened almost imperceptively, but her composure faltered only for a moment. “Well… yes,” she said cautiously. “But, of course, it would be… less than ideal, to pursue a relationship with someone so much older, while we – or, I, have not yet turned 20, considering—”

“What do you know,” said Berkut. He stood, pushing his chair away from the table with force enough to topple it to the floor. “You’re just a woman.”

The door slammed shut behind him with a gust of air that fluttered Rinea's hair and the lilacs on the table, the sound echoing through the dead stone veins of the castle corridors as a stray flower petal floated down into Rinea's teacup. Rinea remained seated, and made no move to right the upturned chair. She stared into the milky brown of the tea he had left behind. Lord Berkut always used too much cream and sugar in his tea, she mused. Very much like a child. It would be too sweet to drink herself, and it would go to waste. And such good tea!

“What a shame,” she said.

She fished the flower petal from her teacup with a spoon and took a sip.

Yes. Such good tea.

**Author's Note:**

> i wrote this in contemplation of feelings i have surfacing about some things that happened to me when i was a teenager, and people who latched onto my loneliness and my own warped perception of my supposed "maturity" to convince me that i was ready to be in an adult relationship.
> 
> shitty though he might be, berkut is an uncomfortable reflection of the vulnerability i experienced when i was even younger than he is now, from his inflated sense of self importance masking a fragile ego desperate for validation to his facade of intellectual precocity hiding alarming emotional and empathetic underdevelopment.
> 
> but. that's what teenagers are like. so therefore, they really ought not be in relationships with people almost 10 years older than them... right?
> 
> and before you tell yourself that you're an exception. i did, too. even if you feel like you're the one in control, you're not. even if someone defers to your every whim and makes you feel like a king.
> 
> thus, while i hesitate to share my work sometimes for fear of controversy, this, too, i worry about, considering the direction of the objections it raises yet seems to internally ignore, lest it be mistaken for... endorsement... or even, condonement, if that's a word. if it's not, it should be.
> 
> anyway. that's all i have to say. thank you.


End file.
